Loss Of Composure Dooms NC State Vs. Indiana

I thought in the 2nd half, Brown and Johnson ran the offense great together. I felt we needed that combination more down the stretch especially on a night that CJ Williams wasn’t at his best at either end of the floor.

I’m mad as hell about this game, because it was given away (and that’s a sign of progress as well, because Indiana’s a good team this year already), but I see the same signs of progress.

Maybe year 1 NCAA’s is too much too soon, but I think it can still be done.

Refs were bad but bonehead plays cost us more.

making the Zeller family happy-again. can we not beat a Zeller?

i am not down on the refs as much as others. Wood needs to learn to leave a player on a break away alone.

i note that the women also lost to NU. wasn’t close: 76-59. the women shot a dismal 29%. that followed their great shooting at Creighton-43%. at least they up’ed their free throw shooting from 41% at Creighton to 64%. it was a career night for freshman Jones of NU who hit 5 of 6 three point shots and was 9-16 from the floor. Creighton killed State from the three point line as did NU, so it is not just hot shooting from that line by one particular team. its a trend-well on the road anyway.

great night!

from missed lay ups and free throws to too many turnovers. He still seems to be really bothered by height.

Also, in regards to knowing how to defend certain players, there is no way that Brown, or anyone else, should have been going under the screens when he was guarding Hulls (or whatever his name is), his last 3 stands out to me. The guy is < 6 ft tall, make him take the ball into the lane.

I never expected this to be a NCAA tournament team, and this loss confirms it for me. The coaching staff just has too large of a hole to dig out of just teaching these guys the fundamentals of college basketball.

looks like he has settled on a rotation of 8 players in important/close games. Lowe used an NBA rotation playing 10-11 players. sometimes, it seemed, that Lowe substituted just to substitute. and. i like the fact that Gott sits for much of the game and is not out on the court trying to play.

I really enjoyed watching this game from beginning to end. Indiana is a lot better team than what they have been and I’m glad they’re doing well again (still hate the Big 10).

Good:

Rebounded well on the offensive glass, played hard for a majority of the game and liked the cohesion we showed fighting back.

Bad:

Our lack of 3-pt shooters is a problem, Richard Howell is a problem, CJ Williams is a problem.

I’m looking at Brown on the 3-pt shooter issue, he and CJ Williams need to find some sort of stroke from the outside just to free up Wood. Richard, oh Richard what happened. You are regressing back to last year. I don’t know if you’re getting tired or just lazy, but the energy and composure you had up until Vandy has faded drastically. We need you to be competitive buddy or else it will be another long year. CJW, I will teach you how to play base-line defense if you just stop looking at the half-court line while guarding arond the 3-pt line. I thought CJW would be one of our better defenders but he has become too occupied with looking for the screener coming his way.

On other notes, that Flagrant crap call was awful, especially when IU got away with one earlier in the game (just call it both ways), and there were some others, but overall, I thought the refs were good (much better than the Jersey tourney refs). CJ Leslie is a stud again, but still needs to learn to dribble as little as possible.

Brown, I was disappointed in last night. As the PG, you have to go TO the bball to receive the pass, not try to post up the defender at the top of the key. You need to be shooting more, be more aggressive on your drives, and demand the ball in your hands at all times, because no one else outside of AJ can handle the rock for more than 3 seconds. Brown looked too lethargic on the defensive end and too lazy on the offensive end. Hope its just getting over the flu, but you are a stud kid, and you need to start playing like one again.

In the end, IU is a good team, congrats to them, they beat us. I hope we get a second shot at them at the end of the season.

You can tell by the lineup changes that the coaches are still trying to figure out what they have. You can tell by the runs we make that we have the ability to be very good, but we lack the consistency. Both of these will get better over time if the coaches and players are doing their job.
I think we are a .500 team in the ACC. Luckily that’s usually more than enough to get you to the dance.

1) Scott Wood did the right thing…executed it poorly…but remember the scenario…we were down by 2…just turned the ball over…you always foul. Hindsight is 20-20 but you foul in that situation because you make the guy earn his points at the line with no time on the clock. AND he missed one (like you want him to)…so that would’ve been a 3 point game. You never let a guy just score when you’re down, always make him earn it.

2) CJW’s inability to protect baseline, three times in a row was the most disturbing moment the entire game…that not only gave them points, it gave them momentum.

3) Howell had his worst game of the year. He was just generally out of it. Missed free throws aside, if we do miss the NCAAs by a hair I’ll replay us being up by 3 with a momentum building fastbreak and Howell missing a lay-up at the rim.

4) Lo Brown, CJL, Wood, and Painter all played well. Of course each made some costly mistakes (Browns TOs, CJLs jumpshot, Wood’s fouls, and Painters 3 missed mid-range jumpers). Overall they helped us more than they hurt us (Brown’s aggressiveness, CJLs effort, Wood’s stroke and Painter’s Painters Rebounding)

5) We need to beat Stanford and/or The ’Cuse and hold serve in our other non-conference games…the ACC is so bad this year that there are only maybe 3 other teams that may have a positive effect on our NCAA resume with a win. UNC, Duke & UVA. Unfortunately, we only play those three a total of 4 times…so we have a lot more chances for a “bad loss” then we do a “good win”